Sunday, April 29

I've been having some connection challenges the past few days, so I'm almost belated with this post but not quite - I've still got an hour until midnight here on the US Pacific Coast.

Five years ago, today - April 29, 2002, Jay Cross made the first official post to Learning Circuits Blog.

Welcome to the Learning Circuits Blog!

A blog (short for web-log) lets you post a few sentences -- you don't have to puff up an observation into an article to post it. Blogs are spontaneous and informal. Also, there's no delay between writing an item and posting it on the web. A group of us are experimenting here, dropping thought-fragments and opinions into our group blog. If we're successful, you'll begin coming to the Learning Circuits Blog for late-breaking news.

I'll ask our initial bloggers to begin by telling us who they are, what interests them, and their URLs.

The list of Jay's friends who joined him on his experiment with a new technology included Clark Aldrich, Peter Isackson, Tom Barron, Kevin Wheeler, Ellen Wagner, Clark Quinn, and Margaret Driscoll. Both Clarks, Peter and Jay are still consistent contributors to Learning Circuits Blog five years later.

LCB was an outgrowth of Jay's person website and blog efforts. He linked up with ASTD's Learning Circuits Magazine to experiment with a new technology. LCB's affiliation with Learning Circuits continues to this day. It's been a unique relationship as we draw upon each other's connections and knowledge but ASTD has allowed LCB 100% freedom in editorial direction - allowing it to truly be a blog.

LCB has seen some lean times and some great successes. Sam Adkins' We Are the Problem: We're Selling Snake Oil post on November 17, 2003 rocked the elearning world. It drew 60 comments when LCB had been averaging just over 2 per post at that point.

In January of 2005, it was my great fortune to have Jay ask me to take over the reins of Learning Circuits Blog. It's been great experience thus far and only promises to be just as stimulating and exciting as we move forward.

We will begin our 6th year of publishing thought provoking content on the internet by trying to expand on the success of the feature Tony Karrer guided into existence last October - The Big Question. With The Big Question, we found a way to involve more of our community and make LCB a dynamic hub of networked activity. It's been exciting to see over 60 learning professionals step forward and publish posts as part of The Big Question in our first 7 months of the feature. The conversations have been stimulating and authentic.

You'll read in the next few days how we're planning to change LCB and how you can help. By 2012 and our tenth anniversary, LCB will be radically different than it is today, just as those first few posts seem archaic in light of today's blogosphere.

But then it wouldn't be true to the experimental nature of LCB's birth if we didn't pursue change, now would it?

Thank you to everyone who's been a part of the first five years of Learning Circuits Blog!

Five years ago I was just stepping out gingerly into the world of internal corporate blogging at the BBC and helping Euan Semple and his team bring their dream into reality. Through the teeth of IT staff opposition and indifference we made it happen. Now the 300 odd bloggers and their 8-10,000 readers just take the whole thing for granted.

Subscribe To

Follow by Email

About the LC Blog

The LC Blog is a community feature that Learning Circuits launched in 2002. The main feature of the LC Blog is its Question of the Month, which hones in on a priority topic facing learning professionals. Anyone--and everyone--can contribute to the LC Blog.

Search This Blog

Loading...

About Learning Circuits

ASTD launched Learning Circuits in January 2000. Its goal was to promote and aid the use of e-learning, creating a body of knowledge about how to use technology efficiently and effectively for learning. There are nearly 800 articles currently on the website.

About ASTD

ASTD (American Society for Training & Development) is the world’s largest association dedicated to workplace learning and performance professionals. ASTD is dedicated to providing resources to practitioners working the field of e-learning. ASTD delivers the free webzine Learning Circuits, the ASTD TechKnowledge Conference & Exposition; two educational certificate programs on e-learning design; and numerous books and Infolines.